Mystery bone found in Virginia creek

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PETERSBURG, Va. (WTVR) - A woman looking for arrowheads in historic Lieutenant's Run creek Sunday instead made a startling discovering in the water.

Ayla Barr discovered a leg bone in the water (PHOTO: Wayne Covil)

"I walked all the way up to the end of the sand bar and, in the sand, buried halfway in, was this leg bone," Ayla Barr said.

Barr and her roommate took the bone to police and a forensics team was dispatched to the creek to search for more bones.

No more bones were found.

The bone was taken to the Virginia State Lab to determine whether or not it's animal or human remains, Petersburg Police Sgt. Dustin Sloan said.

But even before the official results are in, the experts who saw the bone said it came from a human.

But from whom?

"Usually if it's a Civil War soldier, there would be buttons, maybe the bullet that killed them, and that's how they would be identified. Native Americans there would be artifacts relating to that," Petersburg historian Chris Calkins said.

It could be months before lab results come back and determine the age and origin of the bone.